Froomkin: James Madison says we must impeach Cheney

Dan Froomkin's latest column treats us to a little history from the Constitutional Convention and the Watergate era:

"In the [Constitutional] convention George Mason argued that the President might use his pardoning power to 'pardon crimes which were advised by himself' or, before indictment or conviction, 'to stop inquiry and prevent detection.' James Madison responded:

"[I]f the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds [to] believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty. . . .

The same reasoning applies to the Vice President, and it seems clear that Libby was acting at Cheney's direction when he leaked Plame's name, and that he was protecting Cheney when he lied about it.

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John Conyers should grant Libby use immunity for his testimony, subpeona him as a witness, and get the goods.  He should do what the Watergate committee did, and have majority and minority counsels (that is, lawyers who specialize in questioning witnesses) handle the bulk of the questioning.  None of this crap where every committee member gets five minutes to make a speech and ask a question.

Any attempt by the White House to impede that questioning of Libby should be answered, in public, with the Madison quote: the President and Vice President are connected in a suspicious matter to Libby, and are sheltering him.